Did you know that about 700,000 children are abused in the United States each year? This is a big problem for society that needs to change. People need to become more aware of child abuse because it causes a lot of mental and physical traumas that lead to poor behavioral effects.
The kids that are abused can become victims of mental trauma and can develop depression, anxiety, and personality disorders. Depending how badly and how long they were abused for, kids can develop different levels of depression. Many kids are taunted for years and over time start getting depressed by lack of selflove and having a safe home. “Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes”. The stress of going home expecting to get beaten and hurt causes an extreme amount of worry, stress, and tension. Emotional trauma scars a person for life and can bring back the same awful memories when familiar sounds, feelings, and situations arise. Emotional abuse has been studied and proven to be the most significant way that children develop personality disorders later in life.
Physical trauma caused by abuse can lead to severe internal and external injuries. According to 'Traumatic mechanisms of head injury in child abuse”, head traumas can have long lasting effects on the growth of the child. Concussions, brain damage, and all other types of head traumas can lead to death if they are severe enough. Scars, bruises, and burns stay with someone throughout their life reminding them of the tragedies they lived. In addition, broken bones can also affect a child’s life and even become paralyzed in the worst of cases. In other situations, breaking or fracturing a leg, arm, or other bones may never fully or properly heal because of improper care which could result in physical complications later in life. Any type of physical trauma as a child can be awful and can keep someone from living a normal life.
Abuse and neglect can lead to low self-esteem in children and often leads to self-harm, drug use, criminal activity, and other similar behaviors. According to Dr William J. Watson, kids can develop suicidal thoughts or attempt to harm themselves when they feel at their lowest. In addition, kids in these situations will start using drugs because they feel alone and have no guidance. Drugs give the user a feeling of relaxation and acts as an escape because it helps them forget their problems. Likewise, alcohol is another big issue because it is a gateway drug to more dangerous substances. Since most parents have it in their home, it is not hard for kids to get a hold of. Furthermore, abused children tend to grow up and become violent which often leads to theft and other crimes. Once a child is addicted to drugs, they will do whatever is necessary to get a hold of them. All these behavioral effects caused by abuse will lead the child to careless decisions later in life.
In conclusion, the child physical abuse receive, leaves dreadful traumas on them and robs them from the peaceful life they could have had. Instead, they are left with the scars of their childhood abuse. These unfair acts that adults are doing to kids comes with consequences and people need to become more aware of how they shape the child and who they grow up to be.
